This invention relates to a machine for producing bundled plastic tape products such as pompons to be used for cheering various sport matches including mass games, volley balls and the like and more particularly, a machine adapted to rip an indefinite length of thin plastic tape in the longitudinal direction into strips of equal width, cut the strips to a desired length and bundle the cut strips at their central areas in the length thereof.
Hithertofore, pompons have been generally hand-made by the users themselves. That is, the user bought a commercially available packing tape roll comprising a thin polyethylene tape having the width of about 5 cm wound about a core, payed the cut tape out of the tape roll, cut the payed out length of the tape to tape pieces each having a predetermined length (about 60-100 cm) by means of scissors or the like cutting means, folded the tape pieces double at their central areas in the length thereof to a substantially U-shape, bundled the folded tape portions by a string and manually ripped the bundled tape pieces one by one from the opposite ends thereof. Alternatively, the user folded the tape into a plurality of loops while manually paying the tape out of the tape roll, put the loops together, bundled the assembled loops at the central areas thereof by a string, cut the loops at their opposite ends by means of scissors or the like and then manually ripped the loops from their cut opposite ends towards the bundled central areas thereof.
One of the prior art pompons is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Appln. Publication No. 24291/1986. The pompon is produced by preparing a plurality of relatively broad polyethylene sheets, cutting a plurality of slits in each of the sheets extending from one side edge to a position short of the other side edge of the sheet by means of scissors leaving a non-slitted portion adjacent to the other side edge so as to make a fringed sheet, placing the fringed sheets one upon another, rolling the fringed sheets at their non-slitted portions, holding the rolled sheets in the rolled condition by a circular cap-shaped holder and fastening the sheets and holder together by means of a screw or screws. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Appln. Publication No. 20017/1984 discloses a method for producing cheering pompons. The method of this Japanese application also produces cheering pompons by preparing a plurality of relatively broad polyethylene sheets of substantially the same length, cutting a plurality of slits in each of the sheets from the opposite ends towards the central area in the length thereof by means of scissors or the like except for the central area thereof leaving a non-slitted portion at the central area and bundling the slitted sheets together at the central areas by means of a string.
However, the prior art pompons have been produced by the methods which are quite time-consuming and tedious. Thus, simple and less expensive machines for producing pompons which can be simply operated requiring no complicated mechanical or electric power have been demanded by sport bodies, performance companies, schools and kindergartens where pompons are frequently used.